NOVEMBER  1913 


Number  1 


Ueimaton 

State  Normal  Srltnnl 
luUrtto 


Seat  Work  for  Rural  Schools 


Published  Quarterly  by  the  Lewiston  State  Normal  School  at 
Lewiston,  Idaho. 


Entered  as  second-class  matter,  August  5,  1905,  at  the  Postoffice  at 
Lewiston,  Idaho,  under  Act  of  Congress  of  July  16,  1894. 


Seat  Work  for  Rural  Schools 


Addie  M.  Ayer 

Supervisor  of  Rural  Training  Schools 
Lewiston  State  Normal  School, 
Lewiston,  Idaho. 


FOREWORD. 


The  results  of  recent  observations  of  rural  school  teaching  show 
a real  need  for  more  truly  educative  work  that  the  children  in 
ungraded  or  partly  graded  schools  may  do  with  a minimum  of 
active  supervision  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  The  numerous  re- 
quests from  teachers  in  service  for  help  along  this  line  have 
demonstrated  that  teachers  feel  this  need  and  wish  to  respond. 

At  the  request  of  the  department,  Miss  Addie  M.  Ayer,  super- 
visor of  Rural  Training  Schools,  has  prepared  the  following  ma- 
teial  for  publication.  It  is  hoped  that  this  bulletin  will  materially 
help  teachers  to  make  their  seat  work  really  efficient.  The  ex- 
ercises here  suggested  are  only  types  and  the  teacher  must  origi- 
nate others  similar  to  them  to  insure  continuance  of  the  work. 

EARL  S.  WOOSTER, 
Dean  of  Rural  Department. 


Seat-Work. 


By  seat  work  we  mean  certain  activities  other  than  book 
study,  planned  and  assigned  by  the  teacher  but  not  supervised. 
There  are  two  kinds,  one  which  is  closely  correlated  with  the 
three  R’s  and  which  is  used  to  reinforce  the  knowledge  or  power 
gained  in  a recitation,  and  the  other  which  is  more  often  called 
handwork,  such  as  weaving,  paper  folding,  clay  modeling,  etc., 
and  which  is  less  closely  correlated  with  the  formal  subjects.  In 
this  bulletin  we  have  laid  more  emphasis  on  the  former.  It  is 
sometimes  hard  to  draw  the  line  between  the  two,  as  in  paper 
tearing  and  cutting  when  used  to  illustrate  certain  phases  of  a 
reading  or  language  lesson,  or  paper  folding  when  correlated 
with  number. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  seat  work  is  desirable,  but  there 
has  been  very  little  written  of  a definite  and  suggestive  nature 
that  is  available  for  the  country  teacher.  Books  on  reading  and 
phonics  argue  the  necessity  for  correlated  seat  work  and  they 
suggest  that  the  skillful  teacher  will  think  of  a hundred  devices, 
but  investigation  shows  that  it  is  the  exceptional  rural  school 
that  has  any  of  educational  value.  The  untrained,  inexperienced 
and  overworked  teachers  of  several  grades,  need  suggestions  for 
devices  and  management  of  seat  work  more  than  any  one  thing. 
Hence  this  bulletin. 

Reasons  for  Seat-Work. 

One  motive  for  having  seat-work  in  school  is  to  give  profitable 
employment  to  the  child  for  every  period  he  is  in  the  school 
room.  In  a school  of  four  grades,  each  class  takes  part  in  a recita- 
tion or  supervised  period  of  some  nature  about  a third  of  the 
time.  That  means  that  for  two-thirds  of  the  school  day,  the 
children  are  at  their  seats  preparing  a lesson,  working  on  a 
given  kind  of  seat-work,  hunting  mischief  or  day  dreaming. 
Natural  children  keep  wholesomely  employed,  but  when  there  is 
nothing  worth  while  to  enlist  their  interests,  they  are  actively  in 
trouble  or  worse  still,  getting  into  habits  of  loafing,  which  is  the 
most  thorough  line  of  training  the  average  rural  school  is  giving. 
It  is  the  common  cry  among  country  teachers,  “I  cannot  get  my 
fourth  and  fifth  grades  to  study.”  Of  course  not,  for  they  have 
had  three  years  of  training  in  indolence  and  non-application  to 
work. 


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In  a school  of  eight  grades,  the  majority  of  programs  give 
about  forty  minutes  a day  for  the  first  grade  recitations.  After 
the  child  has  been  in  school  about  two  months,  he  may  be  able 
to  prepare  a reading  lesson  from  a primer.  We  cannot  expect 
him  to  spend  more  than  twenty-five  minutes  in  the  forenoon  and 
the  same  time  in  the  afternoon,  on  concentrated  study  of  an  as- 
signed lesson.  If  no  seat- work  is  given,  we  have  ninety  minutes, 
or  a little  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  day  in  which  he  is  profit- 
ably occupied.  If  the  child  cannot  be  dismissed  early  and  the 
weather  is  such  that  he  cannot  go  out  to  play,  what  is  to  be  done 
with  the  remaining  three-fourths  of  the  time?  It  is  a conserva- 
tive estimate  to  say  that  seventy  per  cent  of  the  time  in  the  first 
grade,  to  twenty-five  per  cent  in  the  eighth  is  wasted  in  the 
majority  of  rural  schools  of  all  grades. 

Some  tieachers  convince  themselves  that  they  have  solved, 
the  problem  by  giving  the  children  busy-work  which  keeps  them 
out  of  mischief,  but  if  it  is  nothing  more  than  making  paper 
chains  or  laying  sticks  to  make  a barn,  which  a child  of  three 
could  do  with  his  eyes  closed,  it  is  of  little  educational  value. 
They  will  naturally  dawdle  for  their  interests  are  not  enlisted 
and  they  know  the  unimportance  placed  on  the  task  by  the  teach- 
er. Other  kinds  of  busy  work  which  have  been  worn  thread- 
bare and  which  are  of  little  value  except  for  a short  time  with 
the  very  little  children,  are  paper  weaving  and  the  use  of  sewing 
cards, 

The  second  motive  for  having  seat  work  is  to  give  training  to 
supplement  the  class  recitation,  which  is  bound  to  be  limited  in 
a school  of  many  grades.  When  seat-work  is  correlated  with 
book  subjects  such  as  reading,  number,  phonics,  etc.,  it  should 
be  of  such  a nature  that  it  will  strengthen  the  knowledge  or  pow- 
er gained  in  a previous  recitation.  For  example,  if  several  new 
words  have  been  taught  in  a reading  lesson,  the  seat-work  fol- 
lowing should  have  a definite  purpose  to  keep  those  words  be- 
fore the  child  in  such  a manner  as  to  require  him  to  compare, 
judge  and  draw  some  conclusion.  In  reading  device  number 
three,  two  new  words  such  as  said  and  seed  may  look  much  alike 
to  the  little  child,  and  so  it  requires  careful  observation  and  com- 
parison to  be  able  to  match  like  words.  If  certain  Roman  num- 
erals have  been  taught  in  Numbers,  or  a certain  phonogram  in 
Phonics,  the  seat-work  following  the  recitation  should  reinforce 
the  knowledge  gained.  If  there  is  no  seat-work  to  aid  in  strength- 
ening the  impression  made  in  class,  quite  likely  the  child  will 
have  forgotten,  by  the  time  of  the  next  recitation  in  the  same 
subject,  what  was  taught  the  previous  day. 


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The  more  ways  the  same  information  is  imparted  to  a child, 
the  stronger  the  impression.  For  example,  when  he  studies  a 
reading  lesson,  there  is  no  way  for  a teacher  to  know  that  he 
concentrates  the  attention  on  the  new  or  difficult  words  or  that 
the  silent  reading  or  study  will  aid  him  to  any  great  extent  in 
getting  the  thought,  unless  correlated  seat-work  is  also  given. 
Then  emphasis  may  be  laid  on  the  new  and  difficult  words,  as  in 
devices  number  three  and  four.  If  the  selection  to  be  read  for 
the  next  recitation  is  difficult  in  meaning,  the  haziness  of  thought 
may  be  cleared  by  simple  but  searching  questions  which  the  child 
will  be  unable  to  answer  unless  he  fixes  his  mind  on  the  selec- 
tion. (See  device  No.  16).  Let  us  remember  that  seat-work 
is  a test  of  a child’s  ability  and  of  his  assimilation  of  what  has 
been  given. 

Time  Required  to  Complete  a Given  Amount  of  Seat-Work. 

The  length  of  time  that  it  will  take  to  do  a given  piece  of 
busy  work  will  depend  upon  the  kind  as  well  as  upon  the  age 
and  ability  of  the  class,  but  it  is  neceessary  to  change  often 
enough  to  hold  the  interest  of  the  pupils  and  train  them  in  steady 
application  to  work.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  most  seat-work  will 
not  keep  children  actively  employed  for  more  than  twenty  or 
thirty  minutes.  That  means  that  the  old  work  must  be  inspected 
and  new  work  passed  for  about  every  other  period,  when  periods 
are  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  in  length. 

More  Seat-Work  for  Lower  Grades. 

In  what  grades  should  there  be  seat- work?  The  lower  the 
grade  the  more  there  is  neded.  By  the  time  the  children  get  to 
the  fourth  grade  there  is  considerable  book  work,  perhaps  enough 
to  convince  a “school  keeper”  that  anything  of  the  seat  work 
nature  is  not  needed.  If  the  rural  school  is  going  to  make  any 
progress  even  in  formal  subjects,  much  more  supplementary 
work  outside  of  text  books  is  necessary  than  is  given  in  most 
schools.  Too  much  time  is  spent  in  preparing  a book  lesson  that 
should  have  been  mastered  in  half  the  time  used.  To  get  good 
results,  supplementary  work  should  be  given  in  assigning  nearly 
every  lesson  of  every  grade. 

Systematic  Planning. 

Most  country  teachers  agree  that  the  seat  work  problem  is 
their  biggest  one.  How  can  it  be  solved  without  its  being  too 
great  a burden  for  the  teacher?  Like  every  other  phase  of  rural 
school  work,  half  the  battle  is  won  when  the  work  is  systemat- 


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ized  and  the  teacher  plans  each  lesson  at  !east  two  days  in  ad- 
vance. This  is  necessary  for  intelligent  assignment  of  lessons. 
Most  seat  work  should  be  kept  in  envelopes  of  various  sizes, 
usually  three  by  four  inches  when  finished  is  a satisfactory  size. 
Quantities  of  these  envelopes  made  of  heavy  wrapping-paper, 
should  be  on  hand.  Have  a cardboard  pattern,  so  that  by  tracing 
around  the  pattern,  dozens  may  be  made  in  a short  time.  The 
tracing,  cutting  and  pasting  of  envelopes  is  a good  project  for 
the  younger  children,  while  the  second  and  third  grades  may 
make  them  from  measurement  dictation  on  the  blackboard.  Save 
chalk  and  cardboard  boxes  in  which  to  keep  the  envelopes,  hav- 
ing a box  for  each  grade  or  each  subject. 

How  is  a teacher  going  to  find  time  to  make,  pass,  note  re- 
sults and  collect  seat  work?  The  envelopes  should  be  made  by 
the  pupils  as  suggested  above.  The  teacher  will  have  to  make 
a model  of  each  kind  to  be  used,  and  then  if  possible,  train  one 
or  two  of  the  older  pupils  to  make  the  necessary  number  of  cop- 
ies, pass  them  at  a stated  time,  inspect  the  work  when  done  and 
collect  and  put  into  the  right  box.  It  will  not  become  a burden 
or  require  much  time  on  the  part  of  the  older  children  to  do  this 
if  the  work  is  divided  so  that  one  pupil  is  responsible  for  one 
grade,  a second  pupil  for  another  grade  and  so  on. 

The  seat  work  is  of  no  consequence  and  the  little  people  soon 
realize  it  if  the  results  are  not  inspected  by  the  teacher  or  an  older 
child  acting  as  assistant.  They  must  be  made  to  feel  the  im- 
portance of  the  work  and  their  responsibility  for  its  completion. 

How  Handwork  May  Be  Introduced. 

Many  rural  teachers  would  like  to  introduce  handwork,  but 
they  do  not  see  how  it  is  to  be  done  when  there  are  so  many  other 
phases  of  school  work  that  seem  more  pressing.  If  work  such 
as  weaving,  spool  knitting,  raffia  and  cord  work,  paper  tearing 
and  cutting,  and  basketry  could  be  put  into  the  country  schools 
without  much  time  being  taken  from  the  book  subjects,  there 
would  be  little  opposition  even  in  the  most  conservative  districts. 
If  the  work  is  simple  and  fitted  to  the  abilities  of  the  children, 
a good  deal  could  be  done  in  one  or  two  twenty  or  thirty  minute 
periods  per  week  of  supervised  handwork.  At  least  one  period 
per  day  for  the  lower  grades  could  be  used,  in  which  children 
could  go  on  with  the  work  started.  Sewing  could  be  conducted 
in  the  same  manner.  There  is  no  more  reason  that  every  step  of 
handwork  or  sewing  should  be  supervised,  than  that  every  per- 
iod of  book  study  should  be  supervised.  A skillful  teacher  will 
use  handwork  as  an  incentive  for  good  preparation  in  the  formal 
subjects.  Most  children  will  work  harder  on  an  arithmetic  lesson 


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if  allowed  to  do  an  interesting-  bit  of  handwork  as  soon  as  the 
assigned  lesson  is  well  prepared. 

Use  of  Native  and  Inexpensive  Materials. 

In  introducing  handwork,  some  teachers  have  made  the  mis- 
take of  getting,  at  the  beginning,  expensive  materials  such  as 
reed,  jute,  construction  paper  and  black  paper  for  silhouette 
work,  when  native  materials  such  as  pine  needles,  cat  tail  leaves, 
corn  husks,  straw  and  willow  branches  for  baskets,  wrapping  pa- 
per for  folding  and  cutting,  old  kodak  rolls  for  silhouettes,  card- 
board for  looms,  and  string  and  yarn  for  weaving  and  knitting 
would  answer  every  purpose.  If  such  materials  are  used  and 
high  standards  of  workmanship  are  adhered  to,  it  will  not  be 
long  before  school  trustees  and  patrons  will  see  the  desirability 
of  handwork  and  there  will  be  no  opposition  to  buying  a reasona- 
ble amount  of  material.  This  has  been  demonstrated  in  many 
districts. 

Good  Taste  in  Construction. 

There  is  a tendency  in  inexperienced  and  untrained  teachers 
to  make  useless,  ugly  and  inappropriate  objects.  Baskets,  mats, 
boxes,  bags,  etc.,  are  often  too  small  to  be  useful.  The  standard 
of  all  construction  work  should  be  use  or  beauty,  or  both.  If  an 
object  is  to  be  decorated,  there  should  be  a simplicity  and  ap- 
propriateness of  design.  Why  have  a sunbonnet  baby  spelling 
booklet?  Why  cut  pictures  from  seed  catalogs  to  decorate  a 
portfolio  for  maps?  If  in  doubt,  make  the  design  conventional. 
Every  school  library  should  have  at  least  one  book  or  set  of  books 
which  would  be  a guide  in  construction  and  design,  such  as  the 
Manual  Arts  Drawing  Books,  or  the  Applied  Arts  Drawing 
books.  (See  bibliography). 

Correlation  of  Handwork  with  Other  School  Subjeects. 

As  much  as  possible  the  handwork  should  be  an  outgrowth  of 
other  school  subjects.  This  is  particularly  true  of  sand  table 
work  for  there  is  no  better  way  to  teaching  history  and  geography 
in  lower  grades,  than  by  means  of  the  sand  table.  There  should 
be  one  in  every  country  school.  It  is  well  for  a teacher  in  plan- 
ning handwork  to  stop,  consider  and  ask  herself  these  questions. 
is  it  useful ? Is  it  appropriate  in  design ? Does  it  fit  the  ability 
of  the  children ? Will  it  i 'train  children  in  hand  skill ? Is  it  cor- 
related with  other  lines  of  school  work ? 


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Devices  for  Seat-Work. 

Note.:  These  are  intended  only  as  type  devices.  The  teacher 
must  use  her  judgment  in  the  selection  of  the  ones  to  be  used, 
and  from  these  suggestions  made  others  that  will  be  of  real  value 
in  supplementing  the  class  recitation.  No  attempt  has  been  made 
to  grade  these  devices,  as  most  of  them  can  be  used  in  several 
grades.  Again,  the  teacher  must  use  her  judgment  in  their  appli- 
cation. If  the  seat  work  is  not  kept  up  to  date  by  being  correl- 
ated with  the  day’s  recitation,  there  is  little  object  in  it. 

Reading. 

1.  Sentence  building.  The  whole  or  part  of  a reading  les- 
son copied  and  cut  into  words  or  phrases.  From  these,  have  the 
children  build  sentences  using  as  a model  the  copy  which  is  on  the 
blackboard,  envelope  or  in  the  book. 

2.  From  review  words  or  words  of  a given  lesson,  have  the 
children  build  original  sentences. 

3.  Divide  a sheet  of  paper  or  bristol  board  into  blocks.  Write 
in  the  rectangles  the  new  or  difficult  words  of  the  lesson.  Each 
word  should  be  written  several  times.  Children  cut  into  slips 
and  pile  words  together.  The  same  slips  may  be  used  later  to 
build  sentences. 

4.  Divide  paper  or  bristol  board  as  in  the  above  device. 
Write  new  words  in  every  other  row  of  rectangles.  Write  the 
same  words  on  separate  slips.  Children  match  the  words  and 
place  the  small  slips  in  the  blank  rectangles. 

5.  Give  children  small  pictures  which  may  be  cut  from  maga- 
zines and  catalogs.  On  other  cards  have  name  of  objects  pic- 
tured. Children  match. 

6.  Pass  to  each  child  a picture  that  contains  several  objects 
as  girl,  tree,  plant,  dog,  etc.  Write  on  the  blackboard  or  an  en- 
velope, names  which  the  objects  picture.  Children  cut  out  the 
pictures  and  arrange  in  the  same  order  in  which  the  words  are 
written.  Illustrated  pages  from  seed  and  tool  catalogs  may  be 
used  in  the  same  way. 

7.  Mount  pictures  of  objects  on  bristol  board.  On  opposite 
side  write  the  name  of  the  object.  Children  try  to  see  how 
many  words  they  can  recognize  without  turning  to  look  at  the 
picture. 

8.  When  teaching  letters  in  alphabetical  order,  which  usually 
comes  in  the  third  grade,  have  children  take  certain  words  and 
arrange  the  letters  in  the  order  in  which  they  come  in  the  alpha- 
bet as  for  example,  Lewiston  -e-i-l-n-o-s-t-w. 


7 


9.  ABC  Books.  Children  trace  around  a cardboard  pattern 
of  a ship  and  arrange  across  the  top  of  their  paper,  lettering  each 
ship.  They  play  the  game,  “The  ship’s  in  the  harbor!  What  is 
she  laden  with?”  Under  ship  marked  “A”  are  written  all  name 
words  beginning  with  “A”  which  the  children  have  had  in  read- 
ing. The  same  is  done  with  the  ships  marked  wth  other  letters  of 
the  alphabet. 

10.  Make  original  sentences  from  words  of  given  page. 

11.  Illustrate  certain  phrases  of  a lesson  by  paper  tearing, 
drawing  or  construction.  This  will  take  several  periods,  or  bet- 
ter, one  period  for  several  days. 

12.  Beginners  use  seeds  to  “write”  new  words  on  their  desk 
from  a copy  or  from  memory. 

13.  Copy  all  of  the  name  words  of  a given  lesson ; all  the  ac- 
tion words. 

14.  Mount  on  bristol  board  circles  or  other  forms  of  the  stan- 
dard colors.  Write  names  which  represent  the  colors.  Cut  into 
slips.  Children  arrange  color  with  word  it  represents  side  by 
side. 

15.  Write  the  first  word  of  every  sentence  of  the  lesson  on 
separate  slips.  Children  arrange  in  column  form  in  the  same 
order  as  in  the  book.  These  are  often  difficult  words  like  there, 
their,  once,  either,  when,  etc. 

16.  Teacher  writes  questions  about  the  reading  lesson.  Chil- 
dren write  answers  as  they  study  their  lessons. 

17.  Children  write  list  of  words  that  they  cannot  pronounce 
or  do  not  know  the  meaning  of.  These  should  be  taken  from  the 
advance  lesson  and  used  as  word  drill  at  the  beginning  of  the  next 
recitation. 

18.  Syllabicate  all  new  words  of  the  lesson. 

Phonics. 

1.  Build  words  with  phonograms  and  consonants  which  are 
written  on  separate  slips. 

2.  Copy  all  words  from  reading  lesson  that  begin  with  a cer- 
tain consonant  sound;  double  consonant  sound. 

3.  Find  certain  vowel  families  in  a given  lesson. 

4.  Copy  words  from  reading  lesson  of  a given  number  of  syl- 
lables. 

5.  Put  in  accent  marks  in  given  words. 

6.  Copy  words  of  a certain  prefix;  suffix. 

Numbers. 

1.  Tear  or  cut  out  figures.  Mount  and  under  each  write  the 
word  it  represents. 


8 


2.  Mount  large  calendar  figures.  Children  sort  (a)  putting 
like  figures  together,  (b)  arranging  in  numerical  order. 

3.  Write  numbers.  After  each  draw  the  number  of  lines  it 
represents. 

4.  Write  numbers,  their  corresponding  words,  and  draw  lines 
or  dots  to  represent  the  numbers.  These  should  be  on  separate 
slips.  Children  arrange  side  by  side,  as — 

3 three  . . . 

4 four  .... 

5.  Pile  toy  money  of  a kind  together.  (Boxes  of  toy  money 
may  be  purchased  from  Milton  Bradley  and  Company). 

6.  Build  with  toy  money  equal  to  a given  sum,  that  is  build 
in  two  ways  equal  to  a dime ; in  three  ways  equal  to  twenty-five 
cents. 

7.  From  blackboard  dictation,  draw  (a)  lines  of  given  length; 
(b)  rectangles  of  given  areas. 

8.  Teacher  collect  from  dry  goods  stores  strips  of  paper 
that  come  in  rolls  of  ribbon.  Children  measure  and  cut  this  ''rib- 
bon” into  given  lengths.  Arrange  on  their  desks  in  the  order  in 
which  the  problems  are  given. 

9.  Paper  folding  from  blackboard  dictation ; from  blackboard 
drawings.  Much  work  in  measuring  may  be  brought  in  in  this 
way. 

10.  Build  rectangles  of  given  dimensions  from  one  inch  card- 
board squares. 

11.  Work  out  certain  multiplication  tables  with  objects — 
splints,  corn,  pebbles,  etc.  Record  results.  Class  drill  should  fol- 
low this  exercise. 

12.  Pass  rectangular  pieces  of  paper.  Children  find  areas  by 
dividing  each  of  the  four  sides  into  inches,  connecting  the  inch 
marks  and  counting  the  squares. 

13.  Copy  certain  numbers  of  the  pages  from  the  reader. 
Write  the  Roman  numerals  which  represents  each  number. 

14.  Find  lengths,  widths,  heights  and  areas  of  certain  objects 
in  the  room. 

15.  Estimate  lengths,  widths,  heights  and  areas  of  certain 
objects  in  the  room. 

16.  Estimaite  lengths,  widths  and  areas  of  certain  pieces  of 
land  around  the  school  house. 

17.  Draw  to  a scale  (a)  simple  objects  in  the  school  room; 
(b)  fences,  gates,  hen  coops,  gardens,  etc. 

18.  Take  inventory  of  (a)  the  library,  (b)  the  school  room, 
estimating  costs  when  they  are  not  known.  Record  in  business 
form. 


9 


19.  Make  imaginary  purchases.  Use  sale  slips  on  which  to 
record  these.  Find  the  amount  of  the  bill.  (One  can  get,  for  a 
small  sum,  sale  slip  pads  from  almost  any  store.) 

20.  From  catalogs,  write  list  of  (a)  tools  necessary  for  school 
garden,  (b)  utensils  necessary  for  school  kitchen.  Figure  cost. 

21.  Cut  out  pictures  of  simple  children’s  dresses  from  fash- 
ion magazines.  Children  mount  and  figure  the  cost  of  the  gar- 
ment. 


Handwork  Outline. 

Note : In  a country  school  of  all  or  nearly  all  grades,  sev- 
eral grades  may  be  combined  so  that  there  will  be  only  two  clas- 
ses in  supervised  handwork.  Though  there  may  be  three  or 
four  grades  in  one  class,  all  need  not  be  doing  exactly  the  same 
kind  of  work.  For  example,  if  paper  folding  is  being  taught  to 
several  grades  , after  a little  drill  work  on  the  sixteen-fold  square, 
the  objects  which  are  being  constructed  may  be  different.  One 
grade  may  be  making  a chair,  another  a piano,  etc.  It  makes  the 
problem  easier  if  two  or  more  grades  are  combined  in  other  sub- 
jects, history,  geography,  etc.,  and  the  handwork  is  an  outgrowth 
of  those  subjects.  Then  the  grades  may  co-operate  in  furnish- 
ing a doll’s  house,  in  constructing  a model  farm  on  the  sand  table 
or  in  making  a Thanksgiving  poster.  By  earning  time,  individ- 
ual children  may  work  at  odd  moments  on  a cooperative  woven 
rug  or  a braided  corn  husk  mat  for  the  school  room. 

After  one  or  more  teaching  lessons  on  a new  subject,  train 
children  to  finish  the  work  or  do  similar  kinds  from  blackboard 
dictation.  In  “Seat  Work  and  Industrial  Occupations,”  by  Gil- 
man and  Williams,  the  following  is  suggested  as  blackboard  dic- 
tation for  seat  work  after  the  children  have  been  told  the  story 
of  “Red  Riding  Hood.” 

“Take  some  red  paper. 

Get  your  white  paper. 

Get  your  scissors. 

Cut  Little  Red  Riding  Hood. 

Cut  the  basket. 

Put  some  eggs  in  the  basket.” 

In  the  same  book  are  these  suggestions  for  seat  work  in  con- 
nection with  a geography  lesson  on  the  Western  Hemisphere. 
Directions  are  written  upon  the  board  as  follows: — 

“At  10:10  John  may  pass  the  scissors. 

Mary  may  pass  the  paper. 


10 


Take  your  circle  marker  (or  compass)  and  make  an  eight- 
inch  circle. 

With  pencil  represent  the  equator. 

Open  your  geographies  to  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

Cut  free  hand  North  America  and  South  America. 

Paste  in  proper  position  on  the  circle.” 

Do  not  have  too  many  lines  of  work  on  hand  at  the  same  time. 
If  one  model  is  well  taught,  the  children  ought  to  be  able  to- 
make  similar  ones  if  based  on  the  same  principle,  without  much, 
if  any  supervision.  For  example,  if  pupils  are  taught  to  weave 
a rug,  they  should  be  able  to  make  mats,  needle-books,  etc., 
without  any  teaching  though  they  should  see  the  teacher’s  finish- 
ed model.  It  is  not  intended  that  a teacher  shall  atteempt  to- 
start  all  of  these  projects  given,  but  in  correlating  the  handwork 
with  other  lines  of  school  work  to  select  from  the  outline  those 
that  seem  to  best  fit  the  needs  of  the  school.  In  some  cases,, 
the  kind  of  work  may  be  as  interesting  and  as  much  worth  while 
in  the  upper  grades  as  in  the  lower,  if  there  are  logical  degrees 
of  difficulty  presented.  In  the  upper  grades,  it  may  be  best  to 
give  the  girls  sewing  while  the  boys  have  basketry,  cardboard 
and  paper  construction,  simple  mechanical  drawing  and  wood- 
work. 


Lower  Grades. 

September. 

I.  Paper  tearing  and  cutting  (free  hand)  preceded  by 

lessons  in  tracing:  ball,  apple,  balloon,  wig- 
wam, canoe,  hatchet,  peace  pipe. 

II.  Paper  folding  and  construction,  based  on  the  six- 

teen-fold square:  papoose  cradle,  table,  chair, 
rocker  for  doll’s  house;  raft,  tool  chest;  en- 
velopes. 

III.  Paper  weaving  for  beginners  only. 

IV.  Spool  knitting. 

Toy  reins. 

V.  Sand  table. 

Homes  of  primitive  people,  based  on  stories 
from  “The  Three  Dwellers,”  “The  Early 
Cavemen,”  “The  Later  Cavemen,”  published 
by  Rand,  McNally  & Company.  Scenes  from 
the  Life  of  Hiawatha.  Scenes  from 
the  Life  of  Robinson  Crusoe. 


October. 

I. 


11 


II. 

III. 

IV. 


November. 

I. 


II. 


III. 

IV. 


December. 

I. 


II. 

III. 


Paper  tearing-  and  cutting  (free  hand). 

Jack-’o  Lanterns,  witches,  brownies;  banner 
of  Columbus;  borders  and  designs  for  book 
covers  from  trees,  corn,  leaves,  etc. 

Paper  folding  and  construction. 

Fireplace,  coal  scuttle  for  doll’s  house;  canoe; 
Columbus’  sail  boats. 

Braiding,  weaving,  etc. 

Corn  husk,  raffia  or  cat-tail  mat,  rug,  circular 
bag  or  purse. 

Sand  table. 

Continuation  of  September  work. 


Paper  tearing  and  free  hand  cutting. 

Pilgrim’s  hat  and  sword,  anchors,  ships,  Indian 
and  Puritan  costumes,  (clothes  pins  may  be 
dressed)  ; conventional  border  for  Thanksgiv- 
ing booklet  of  windmills,  sailboats  or  turkeys. 
Paper  folding  and  construction. 

Spelling  and  Thanksgiving  booklet,  table  lamp 
for  doll’s  house;  Dutch  or  Pilgrim  cradle, 
Mayflower. 

Spool  knitting. 

Doll’s  garments;  toboggan  cap,  scarf,  muff. 
Sand  table  work. 

Plymouth;  the  first  Thanksgiving. 


Paper  tearing  and  free  hand  cutting. 

Christmas  stockings,  bells,  trees  and  holly  to- 
be  used  for  decoration  of  gifts.  Christmas 
poster  illustrating  some  scene  such  as  The 
Three  Wisemen,  The  Shepherd’s  Watching 
Their  Flocks,  or  some  part  of  the  poem  ’Twas 
the  Night  Before  Christmas. 

Paper  folding  and  construction. 

Christmas  tree,  wreaths,  stars ; work  box, 
candy  box,  cornucopia;  book-case,  couch  for 
doll’s  house;  drinking  cups. 

Spool  knitting. 

Wristlets. 


12 


IV. 


January. 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

February. 

I. 


II. 

III. 

IV. 


March. 


I. 


II. 

III. 

IV. 

April. 

I. 


Weaving,  knotting,  etc. 

Napkin  ring  and  picture  frame  wound  with 
raffia;  knotted  raffia  bag  (simplest  knot). 


Paper  tearing  and  freehand  cutting  to  illustrate 
different  phases  of  moon;  snow  flakes;  winter 
sports  poster. 

Paper  folding  and  construction. 

Gt-andfathetr’s  cjock,  upright  piano,  piano 
bench  for  doll’s  house;  calendar. 

Weaving. 

Raffia  needle  book,  book  bag  of  grain  sack, 
or  jute. 

Sand  table  work. 

Road  making;  Eskimo  village. 


Paper  tearing  and  free  hand  cutting. 

Hatchet,  cherries,  etc.,  used  for  design;  Unit- 
ed States  shield,  flag;  Washington’s  army 
poster. 

Paper  folding  and  construction. 

Valentines,  soldier’s  cap;  flat-bottomed  boat. 
Weaving. 

Bed  spread  and  rug  for  doll’s  house;  mats. 
Sand  table  work. 

Lumber  camp ; mining  camp ; Swiss  moun- 
tain home. 


Paper  tearing  and  cutting. 

Garden  tools — spade,  hoe,  rake ; kite,  wind- 
mill. Poster  illustrating  some  story  or  poem 
such  as  “The  Pied  Piper.” 

Paper  folding  and  construction. 

Pin  wheel,  windmill,  kite. 

Knotting  and  weaving. 

Twine  bag,  work  bag,  (simplest  knot)  doll’s 
tam-o’-shanter  or  hat. 

Sand  table  work. 

Model  farm  or  school,  home  or  school  garden. 


Paper  tearing  and  free  hand  cutting. 

Different  kinds  of  trees  that  grow  in  the  dis- 
trict; Easter  rabbits;  Arbor  Day  poster. 


13 


II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

May. 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 


Paper  folding  and  construction. 

Chicken-coop;  wheelbarrow;  Easter  cards. 
Knotting. 

Raffia  covered  bottles  for  vases. 

Sand  table  work. 

Japanese  cherry  festival  scene. 

Sewing — Stitches  required. 

Doll’s  apron. 

Paper  tearing  and  free  hand  cutting. 

Birds,  bird  houses;  farm  animals.  Poster  il- 
lustrating housework  of  each  day  of  week. 
Paper  folding  and  construction. 

May  basket;  spring  flowers. 

Sand  table  work. 

Circus  parade;  barnyard  scene. 

Sewing  for  more  mature  children — Stitches  re- 
quired. 

Doll’s  pillow-case,  doll’s  blanket. 


Upper  Grades. 


Fall  months. 

I.  Sewing. 

Required  stitches  including  buttonholes;  dish 
towel,  sewing  bag;  needlework;  simple  work 
apron,  hemstitched  curtains  for  schoolroom — 
See  State  Sewing  Club  Bulletins,  numbers 
two  and  three. 

II.  Woodwork. 

Drawing  to  a scale  objects  to  be  constructed; 
accurate  measuring  and  sawing  to  a line  and 
plaining;  boards  for  window  ventilation; 
broom  hanger  for  school ; shelves  for  lunch 
baskets  and  pails;  shelves  for  plants;  brackets 
for  shelves ; window  boxes  for  flowers ; sim- 
ple sand  table  for  schoolroom;  window-box 
for  schoolroom;  giant  strides  for  school  play- 
ground. 

III.  Basketry. 

Baskets  of  willow,  straw  or  cat-tail  leaves ; 
Corn  husk  mat  for  school  and  home. 


14 


IV.  Stenciling. 

Working  out  designs  for  curtains  and  needle- 
book  to  be  stenciled  later.  (See  designs  in 
Ladies’  Home  Journal,  Woman’s  Home  Com- 
panion, Applied  Arts  Drawing  Books  and 
Manual  Arts  Drawing  Books.) 

'’Winter  months. 

I.  Sewing. 

Required  stitches;  fancy  apron;  cooking  or 
dusting  cap;  darning  real  stockings — See 
State  Sewing  Club  Bulletin,  number  three. 

II.  Woodwork. 

Drawing  to  a scale  objects  to  be  constructed. 
Seed  tester;  bread  board;  cold  frame;  cup- 
board for  noon  lunch  dishes;  swing  for  school 
playground. 

III.  Basketiy. 

Pine  needle  basket;  raffia  bag. 

IV.  Stenciling  or  Block  printing. 

Stenciling  curtains,  needlebook,  work  basket 
and  sewing  basket  from  design  worked  out 
earlier. 

V.  Cardboard  Construction. 

Sewing  basket ; work  basket ; blotter  pad ; port- 
folio ; calendar. 

Spring  months. 

I.  Sewing. 

Required  stitches;  underskirt;  hemstitched  or 
cross-stitched  towel ; hemmed  or  overhand 
patches ; mending  garments  from  home ; corset 
cover — See  State  Sewing  Club  Bulletin,  num- 
ber three. 

II.  Woodwork. 

Drawing  to  a scale  objects  to  be  constructed; 
kite ; bird  house ; mail  box ; chicken-coop ; farm 
gate ; hammer  handle ; May  pole  for  school 
festival;  teeter-totter  and  horizontal  bar  for 
school  playground. 

III.  Basketry. 

Reed  and  raffia  mats  and  ibaskets — lazy 
squaw-stitch  sewed  baskets ; woven  reed  bas- 
kets. 


15 


IV.  Cardboard  Construction. 

Note  books,  post  card  books,  picture  frame. 

V.  Bookbinding. 

Same  projects  as  for  cardboard  construction. 

VI.  Clay. 

Pottery. 

Note : There  should  be  sand  table  work  in  the  upper  grades, 
but  no  outline  is  given  as  it  should  be  more  closely  correlated 
with  history,  geography,  and  literature  than  any  other  form  of 
handwork.  See  Daniels’  School  Drawing  for  suggestions. 

HANDWORK  SUPPLIES 

For  catalogs  send  to  Milton  Bradley  Company,  San  Francis- 
co, California;  John  W.  Graham  and  Company,  Spokane,  Wash- 
ington ; Thomas  Charles  Company,  Chicago ; A.  Flanagan  Com- 
pany, Chicago ; A.  B.  C.  Loom  Company,  Toledo,  Ohio ; Zeller- 
back  Paper  Company,  836  Franklin  Street,  Oakland,  California 
(For  tag  board,  straw  board,  paper,  etc).  One  of  the  best  of  the 
inexpensive  sets  of  crayons  for  general  use  in  country  schools  is 
the  Embeco  Crayons,  Milton  Bradley  Company,  Price  five  cents 
for  a box  of  eight  colors. 

Printing  presses  for  printing  primary  reading  lessons,  seat 
work,  etc.,  may  be  purchased  from  any  of  the  first  four  of  the 
above  list  of  school  supply  houses.  Prices  from  $1.50  up. 

RECEIPT  FOR  PASTE 

1 cup  of  gluten  flour,  1 cup  of  cold  water. 

Mix  flour  and  water  and  pour  mixture  into  three  cups  of  boil- 
ing water.  Boil  for  five  minutes  or  until  clear.  Add  one  teas- 
poon of  powdered  alum. 


16 


Bibliography 

Handwork , Drawing,  Etc. 

Applied  Art  Drawing  Books,  by  Wilhelmina  Seegmiller. 

Atkinson  Mentzer  and  Grover,  Chicago.  A book  for  each 
grade.  Prices,  10  and  15  cents  per  copy. 

Manual  Arts  Drawing  Books,  each  grade. 

The  School  Arts  Publishing  Company,  Boston.  Price  25 
cents. 

Text  Books  of  Art  Education,  each  grade. 

The  Prang  Educational  Company,  Chicago.  Price  45  to  60 
cents  each. 

Primary  Manual  Work,  by  Ledyard  and  Breckenfeld. 

Milton  Bradley  and  Company,  San  Francisco.  Price 
$1.25.  Particularly  good  for  correlation  of  handwork  and 
other  school  subjects.  Directions  are  very  definite.  For 
first  and  second  grades  only. 

Industrial  Work  for  Public  Schools,  by  Holton  and  Rollins. 

Rand,  McNally  & Company,  Chicago.  Price  90  cents. 
Good  for  advanced  work  in  basketry. 

School  Drawing,  a Real  Correlation,  by  Daniels. 

Milton  Bradley  & Company.  Price  $1.20.  Excellent  for 
sand  table  and  poster  work  for  all  grades. 

Spool  Knitting,  by  McCormack. 

School  Arts  Publishing  Company,  Boston.  Price  80  cents. 

Pine  Needle  Basket  Book,  by  McAfee. 

School  Arts  Publishing  Company.  Price  80  cents. 

Seat  Work  and  Industrial  Occupations,  by  Gilman  and  Williams. 
Milton  Bradley  & Company. 

Booklet  Making,  by  Bailey. 

School  Arts  Publishing  Company.  Price  7 5 cents. 

Blackboard  Drawing,  by  Whitney.  Price  25  cents. 

Blackboard  Sketching , by  Whitney.  Price  60  cents. 

School  Arts  Publishing  Company. 

Farm  and  Home  Mechanics. 

Superintendent  of  Documents,  Government  Printing  Of- 
fice, Washington,  D.  C.  Price  15  cents.  This  bulletin  is 
issued  by  the  Bureau  of  Indian  Affairs  for  use  in  Indian 


17 


Schools.  It  is  just  what  many  rural  teachers  have  been 
looking  for — an  inexpensive  manual  that  will  help  in  coun- 
try school  woodwork. 

Synopsis  of  Courses  in  Sewing — Same  address  as  above. 

Price  10  cents.  Very  definite.  It  will  be  a great  help  to 
teachers  who  have  not  had  a course  in  sewing. 

Some  Things  That  a Girl  Should  Know  How  to  Do.  Same  ad- 
dress as  above.  Price  5 cents.  A bulletin  of  practical  sug- 
gestions for  a country  teacher. 

Outline  Course  in  Housekeeping.  Same  address  as  above. 

Price  5 cents.  Definite  and  practical. 

An  Experimental  Rural  School  at  Winthrop  College. 

United  Spates  Bureau  of  Education,  Washington,  D.  C. 
Free.  A bulletin  which  every  rural  teacher  should  study. 

A Year’s  Work  in  Industrial  and  Social  Problems  in  Grades  V 
and  VI.  A bulletin  issued  by  the  Western  Illinois  State 
Normal  School,  Macomb,  Illinois.  Very  suggestive  for 
correlation  of  handwork  and  other  school  subjects. 

Progressive  System  of  Industrial  Training. 

Industrial  Education  Company,  Indianapolis,  Indiana. 
This  company  publishes  pamphlets  covering  series  of  les- 
sons in  Shop  Work,  Sewing  and  Cooking.  The  materials, 
tools  and  definite  directions  are  given  for  each  project. 
Write  for  particulars. 


. 


I 


